The term 'pop up' literally translated 'to appear' means something that immediately jumps out at you. Whose? Well, of our carp of course!
Rod Hutchinson was one of the first British anglers to use a bait that was detached from the bottom: Rod was convinced that carp did not just eat out of hunger, but often 'sucked in' the bottom just out of curiosity. From there, probably in order to kill two birds with one stone, he decided to try a much more conspicuous bait than the traditional sinkers, which were taken just as much notice of by carp as the bait near the bait. Fishing with this new type of bait gave results right from the start.
Pop-up fishing certainly has advantages, but it also has its downsides as it is not suitable for all bodies of water. This is when pop-up fishing is suitable:
- If we have to fish in places with dirty bottoms where we cannot spot a clearing free of algae or debris inevitably the floating presentation just above these bottoms will catch the attention of a passing carp;
- If we have to fish on muddy, smelly bottoms, the pop-up presentation prevents our bait from absorbing the bottom odours;
- If we want our bait to be more visible than other baits lying on the bottom;
- If we fish in deep water then we opt for a high pop-up and zig fishing;
- A well-made floating bait has more self-ferracting power, which is why it is preferred when fishing for amur that bite and do not suck in the bait.
In some circumstances this type of presentation can be counterproductive, and most of the time it is because carp are more suspicious of overly flashy triggers. This is why sometimes a simple snowman bait where there is a sinking boilie followed by a pop-up boilie on the end of the hair is more effective.
Although this bait may appear flashy it is actually not. In fact, it rises only slightly compared to the sinking bait, but at the same time it is balanced because the weight of the sinking boile is counterbalanced by the buoyant power of the pop up. Following this logic, we can opt for a single balanced type of bait where the boile will have sufficient buoyancy to counteract the weight of the hook.
Now for pop-up fishing, one must follow a few simple rules:
- Depending on the floating bait, one goes for a hook type. Often one opts for a long shank type hook, but this is not always the case.
- For the terminal type, there are several alternatives, from the D-rig to the chod rig, the multi rig to the withy pool rig and the 360 rig. All are valid and a little different from each other.
As far as the availability of pop-ups is concerned, we will certainly have no problems. Bear in mind that a pop-up boilie cannot rely on its own nutritional characteristics to function properly, but on its ability to constantly release the attractants it contains. A small check we can do is after a few hours of fishing. We make sure by cutting the pop-up in half by seeing if the bait has absorbed the water to the depth. The sponge effect in pop-ups is crucial, as is the formulation with attractants in them.
For those who would like to try their hand at making self-made pop-ups without going crazy, they can easily rely on our 'zero gravity' pop-up mix, perhaps customising their bait, bearing in mind that to 100 g of mix we could add
- one egg
- 2/3 ml NHDC SINERGY sweetener
- 3 ml of flavouring of your choice
- preservative
And in addition if you wish at your choice
- 5 g of a powdered hydrolysate
- 5/10 ml of a food liquid
- colouring agent
Pop-up fishing is a very popular variant, especially in England, and lately it seems to have gathered many supporters from Italy as well. As far as I'm concerned, I like to vary it. I habitually practice it on at least one rod and it often gives me satisfaction even in unfruitful sessions.
Until next time!
Daniele Annovi
Team Molino Zombini
